


All the Sky and Stars Too

by opheliasashes



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Automail, F/M, also ling is so in love its gross, automail is badass and so is lanfan, lingfanweek, mainly inspired by the fact I am sick of people writing lan fan as being ashamed of her automail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-29 19:34:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11447616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opheliasashes/pseuds/opheliasashes
Summary: Lingfan Week 2017Day One: ScarsLing Yao carried a grand total of three scars from his trip to Amestris.





	All the Sky and Stars Too

Ling Yao carried a grand total of three scars from his trip to Amestris. The first was nothing more than a thin line across his left cheek, almost invisible unless he was under the right light. He was told it made him look handsome in a rugged kind of way. The second was faint bumps along his left hand of a tattoo Ling swore he still saw out of the corner of his eye from time to time. However, of the three, the third one was the most disquieting. Ironically enough, the scar wasn’t even on his body. But, all the same, he felt its weight, carried it as it pulled him inwards with its gravity. 

After all, remembering one of the people you love most in the world take their own arm off had a tendency to do more than just leave a sour taste in the mouth. 

When they first returned to Xing, he started to watch her do basic maintenance on her arm from time to time. Ensure all the joints were properly tightened, sharpen the blade in her elbow compartment, polish the metal plating. She treated her arm with the same diligence and care she did every other weapon in her arsenal. And that was precisely what worried him. It never appeared to evoke any special emotion out of her, positive or negative. It was the one thing about Lan Fan he could never quite place. There were questions for her he wanted to ask, but didn’t know if he wanted to hear the answers to. He didn’t know if he was ready. 

“So delicate. You make cleaning rust look like a work of art.” Truth be told, flirting with Lan Fan still felt awkward on his tongue. It wasn’t the flirting itself, Ling liked to think he was quite good at that, but the fact it was her. The girl with smouldering eyes and fire on her tongue, who had followed him since he was a child, who was his best friend. 

“I would rather not accidently break my wrist and wait two weeks for a mechanic to come and put it back in working order.” 

Try as she might to sound aloof, there was still a twinkle in her eye as she spoke. She was finally learning to drop the formalities when they were alone in private and it made his heart flutter. 

“Well that wouldn’t be any good. You wouldn’t be able to do anything important. Like juggling, for example.” 

“Juggling?” 

“That’s right! I’ve decided to promote you from head bodyguard to court jester.” That earned him an unamused look. 

“You know, I’ve been told the bean’s girlfriend throws wrenches at him whenever he says foolish things.” 

“So you admit it. You’re my girlfriend.” 

Lan Fan froze up as though someone had poured ice down her back. 

“I…That’s not…”

“Are you saying you’re not?” 

…Nothing but cricket chirps. 

Ling smiled so wide he felt he could swallow the sun. He practically jumped out of his chair and into her lap to kiss her. And without even realizing it, Lan Fan found herself catching him and pulling him close. A feat, considering her left arm was partially disassembled on the workbench in front of them. 

“You couldn’t wait until after I was done working on my arm?” 

“Nope. I don’t see why I have to stop you though.” He began to press kisses down her neck and onto her shoulder. 

“What if someone walks in?” 

“Then I’ll inform them that they’ve walked in the Emperor discussing a private matter with his head bodyguard. And then they’ll apologize, bow so low their nose drags upon the ground, and be quaking in their boots for the rest of the week out of fear of me having them executed. Problem solved.” 

She tried to remain stoic, she really did. Still, she chuckled at his words, a sound that reminded him of the sound of water trickling over stone. 

“Just let me finish up taking care of my arm.” 

“Teach me?” The humour in his voice was gone now. She looked at him quizzically. 

“Well what if something happens where your arm gets damaged but for whatever reason you can’t take care of it yourself. It would be good for more than one person to know how it works.” 

A pause and then

“…Alright.” 

She slowly began to walk through the logistics of the arm, what gear controlled what joint, how all the parts fit together, until finally they reached the top of the arm.

“And this platting here connects to the stump.” He hadn’t expected that word to sting as much as it did. How clerical it sounded, how impersonal. 

“What’s wrong?” There was an uncertainty to her voice he wasn’t expecting. 

“It doesn’t…hurt, does it?” 

She shrugged.  
“It twinges when the weather is about to turn bad. Nothing I can’t handle.” He’d seen her call broken ribs a ‘just a twinge’ before. Her words didn’t exactly comfort him. 

“…My lord? What is it?” And now she’d switched back to honorifics out of nervous habit. Damn it all to hell. 

“Do you hold it against me that you lost your arm?” The words split from his lips too fast for him to catch. There was a silence, until finally she broke it, her voice soft but sturdy.

“There are times when I dislike automail. I occasionally find it cumbersome and worry it may fail me when I need it most. But it has yet to fail me. In exchange for my arm I was able to outwit one of the seven homunculi and keep you safe. It was an act of service to my country and for our clan, and I would do it again a thousand times over.” 

What she didn’t say is ‘I would do it for you a thousand times over’ but really she didn’t need to because as soon as she finished speaking, she kissed him. Ling was far too busy melting to hear anything anyway. 

“Besides,” she said when they finally pulled apart, “automail is the most dangerous and effective trick I have ever had up my sleeve. Literally. Why would I hold that against you?” 

“Did you really just make that pun?” he asked, choosing to ignore her question because the only answers he’d be able to come up with would be terribly sheepish. Apparently it was good enough of a question to earn him a second kiss, so he figured he’d done alright. 

“Maybe.” 

Lan Fan finished the rest of her adjustments and maintenance in relative silence. Ling watched diligently, asking the occasional question, but for the most part, he was uncharacteristically silent. She worked, he watched. The clock hands circled into the last few silent hours of the night. Finally, after the last screw had been locked into place, she flexed her newly refurbished fingers and reached for the candle. Ling stood and took the flame instead. 

“Let’s go walk through the garden. Its late enough that no one will see us.” He offered her his hand and she took it, shyly at first but quickly wrapping her fingers through his own. They didn’t speak as they glided down the hall, both of them silent as shadows. As moonlight poured in through the windows and bounced off against the metal fingers securely interlocked in his own, Ling felt he’d never seen anyone in his life so beautiful.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I'm super pumped to be a part of Lingfan week this year! I've never done a fan week before so this is all very new and exciting to me! I can't wait for the rest of the week and I hope you all join me on this adventure!


End file.
